General

Hunting Information for Lopez Hill 2019

Lopez Hill Preserve is open only for the early season hunt September 1-
October 31st. Specific dates for 2019 are:

Archery September 1-27
Muzzle Loader September 28-October 6
Modern Firearm October 12-31

Please review and follow all Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife hunting
regulations and note that San Juan County is a Firearm Restriction Area. Lopez Island is Game Management Unit (GMU) 414. Our black-tailed deer may not be quite as big as the mainland deer, but there are more of them.

WOW! It has now been a year since San Juan County became the owner of Lopez Hill! We have a wonderful week of activities planned to celebrate this momentous event culminating in a Commemoration at the Lopez Hill Preserve parking area with special guests: Ann Palmer, Friends of Lopez Hill, Jamie Stephens, San Juan County Council, Hilary Franz, Commissioner Public Lands, Senator Liz Lovelett, and Lincoln Bormann, SJC Land Bank. This will be followed by a party at Vita’s. Please go to http://sjclandbank.org/events/ to see details of the events. Come join in the celebration!

Hunting Information for Lopez Hill 2018

Lopez Hill is currently the only Land Bank Preserve that allows hunting. The preserve is open for the early season hunt September 1-October 31st. Specific dates for 2018 are:

Archery September 1-28
Muzzle Loader September 29-October 7
Modern Firearm October 13-31

Where to hunt? The eastern edge of the preserve is recommended as the best hunting area. The forest was logged in the 1990’s and has browse and logging trails. The following aerial shows good places to park along Lopez Sound Road where old skid roads provide walk-in access. This zone is separated from the hiking trails on the rest of the preserve so there is less chance of hiker interactions. Nearby houses are marked in red.

Lopez Hill is a 400-acre preserve with multi-use hiking and biking trails. Please be aware that others are recreating on public lands during the hunting season. If you are successful in your endeavors, please consider the other users of Lopez Hill, and keep gut piles away from public areas. This helps to maintain a good relationship between hunters and hikers, and ends up benefiting everyone.

There are no facilities at Lopez Hill, and no camping or fires are allowed. For campgrounds, try Odlin County Park (360-468-2496) or Spencer Spit State Park (360-468-2251).

If you are interested in the late season hunt during November 15-18, the only public lands open on Lopez Island are in the San Juan Islands National Monument. They have about 400 acres on the south end of Lopez. The person to contact there is Nick Teague (360-468-3754, gteague@blm.gov). See Hints for Hunters 2018 SJINM_SJCLB with LNT for more details.

The best of luck to you! Our deer may not be quite as big as the mainland deer, but there are more of them. If you have any other questions, contact the Land Bank office at sjclandbank@sjclandbank.org or 360-378-4402.

—The information in this post was provided by San Juan County Land Bank.

San Juan County is now the owner of Lopez Hill! This incredible 400 acre property is now protected for generations to come!

In a process that took a long time and resulted in a 50-year lease in 2009, the San Juan County Land Bank negotiated with the WA State DNR to reach a deal. MANY THANKS to everyone involved in the Friends of Lopez Hill and the many volunteers who helped along the way. Many, many thanks also, to the County Council and the Land Bank, who continued to keep this project a priority.

Sorry for the late post. Deer hunting has been in progress since September. From October 14 – October 31 hunting with modern firearms is permitted. After that, no further hunting is permitted on Lopez Hill.

GREAT PROGRESS IS BEING MADE! At the San Juan County Land Bank meeting on Lopez on April 15, Lincoln Bormann, Director, discussed the progress that SJC Land Bank is making in discussions with the WA Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) to purchase Lopez Hill and Odlin South. The county currently has a 50 year lease for both Lopez Hill (400 acres leased in 2008) and Odlin South (about 100 acres leased in 2010). Friends of Lopez Hill and other residents and interested groups, especially the Lopez Community Trails Network (LCTN) have been lobbying the Land Bank to get them to put the purchase of these two properties at the top of their priority list. These properties are not permanently protected unless the county has ownership.

Late last year, the Land Bank asked LCTN to conduct a survey to see how many people on Lopez were interested in pursuing this. LCTN conducted an email campaign and survey, and demonstrated that 632 people supported the purchase. Jamie Stephens, San Juan County Councilman, also came out in strong support of the purchase on behalf of the SJCO Council. At today’s meeting, Lincoln and several of the Land Bank Commissioners expressed their strong support for the purchase of the two properties and their commitment to making it happen.

The Land Bank has initiated discussions with DNR and is preparing to make an offer to the DNR based on recent review and assessment by the Land Bank. The next step is for the DNR to make their own assessment of the properties, and then they will come back to the county with the purchase price. Lincoln said he hoped we could reach that stage by September of this year. At that point, we will know what the purchase price is and can work on determining the funding sources. This convoluted process has been a stumbling block to any serious fund raising because it’s difficult to ask for funding when you don’t know how much you need! It is really heartwarming to see this progress and the great support from the community to purchase these two large, undeveloped properties on Lopez. Stay tuned for updates!